Holy shit, I updated again. Somehow I did it. I haven't edited it, but I am trying to keep the story flowing right now. I got work in three hours, so no updates again until tomorrow. I have some mad b4tmans and amrawo love right now. :) Thank you guys. - D

Work on Monday was long and dreadful. All of my surgeries that I had originally planned for Sunday were staring me in the face. I sighed and took a drink of my coffee as I typed an e-mail wildly back to the assistant who was scheduling my surgeries. She kept putting all of them within two hour blocks of each other and that's just not fucking feasible. Not every patient is quick and easy. There was a knock on my door. "Come in," I announced, without glancing up to see who was walking into my office. Without looking up I smelled that cologne and knew who it was instantly. Liam. I glanced up and smiled. "Hi," I greeted.

"Hello," he replied, a smile spreading on his face. He adjusted his lab coat and sat down on a chair facing my desk. "Having a good morning?" Well, it's getting better, that's for sure.

"Sort of," I answered, making an indifferent face. "Just been hell so far. Trying to re-organize my fucked up schedule and trying to rally my team of unprofessionals out there so we can get started," I growled, gesturing towards the group of my assistants who were gossiping loudly as they peered into my office. You ladies. I know exactly what you're discussing. I sighed loudly and clicked to my door, slamming the door shut. "I hate gossiping," I breathed, walking back over my desk. He laughed that light and quiet smile, his chest heaving. "Don't laugh," I warned, "you have no idea what it's like to be a woman."

"I can imagine," he teased. You men. I rolled my eyes and pulled out my pager, sending out a page that we needed to meet in the OR in 15 minutes for a reconstructive bowel surgery. "Thank you again for going on Saturday." I smiled and felt the blush creep across my face. Damn you. Seriously. Damn you. I don't like feeling this, it's so weird for me.

"Thank you for inviting me."

"If you didn't mind I would like to take you out again sometime." What about Venus? What about – holy shit – man. I flushed. How can I trust you? I know you told me I can, but can I really? Shut up. Just. Whoa. We'll see? Is that an answer? What if you get all crazy? Turn into Bane again? What am I supposed to do then? He's taking serum still. It'll be fine. You're acting fucking ridiculous. You're flustered because you were just asked on a date.

"Sure," I added, giving him another smile.

"Great." The smile on his face made me smile even larger. My pager beeped at me, just as Liam's did. We both looked at each other after we read the page. 'All doctors to the ER.' I swallowed hard and rose up from the desk with Liam, walking out of my office and into the chaos in the hallway. Screaming and crying were echoing from down the way, where the ER was. We walked quickly and I gasped, taking in the scene. People were stretched out on gurneys, screaming and crying out in pain. Each person had some sort of chemical burn on them, eating their skin away. I covered my mouth and felt my eyebrows thread together. Liam pulled gloves out of the box lying on the tray beside him and handed me a pair. A small child beside me cried out, yelling for his mother. I quickly shoved the gloves on and attended to him.

"Hello," I said, cheerily, smiling at him as I evaluated the burn on his leg. It was deep, straight down to the subcutaneous tissue with the surrounding area escalating up to the first degree. "What's your name? My name is Doctor Holly." You poor, child. I felt my heart sink as I watched his face contort in pain. I hated children in pain. It was why I never got into pediatrics. It spoke too much to me. I hated it.

"I'm Ryan," he stuttered, his fists clenching at his sides.

"How old are you, Ryan?"

"Ten." I took his vitals, quickly. All normal, except for his gaping wound. I pulled a morphine drip out of the cart beside me and hung it on the pole next to his bed.

"This is gonna hurt a little bit, but it's only so I can get you some medicine to make you feel better." He nodded as I pulled out the needle and drip clamper. I inserted them into the crook of his arm and patted his shoulder. "You're going to be fine, okay?" He nodded again as I turned the drip on low. I pulled a dry, thin, clean sheet over his leg to cover it and patted him again as I retrieved a bag for fluids. He was going to be losing a lot of fluid and I needed to keep it up. Blake walked past me in a daze, his head bleeding. There was a more vacant expression than normal on his face. I glanced down as blood dripped from his shoulder. I gasped and sat him down on an empty bed next to Ryan. "Blake!" I exclaimed, holding his hands, shaking them. He stared at me, with no emotion. Oh fuck! "Are you alright?" I prodded, pulling an alcohol swab out of the cart between the beds. I patted at the wound and held it open, looking for debris of any kind.

"She was there," he stated, his eyes looking up into mine with horror. "I was so close. And she knew it."

"What? Who was there?" I asked, dabbing at the wound still.

"The woman that's been behind all of the attacks lately… I caught on to her trail… I was gathering evidence and was at a local flower shop about a mile away. The guy behind the desk said something about 'cop' and then the next thing I know, there's a bomb going off outside." His bottom lip quivered and his brown eyes meeting mine. He cried softly.

"It's not your fault, Blake." I rubbed the shoulder that wasn't bleeding and patted him lightly. I started a drip up for him and cut his shirt off. A nurse had finally arrived to attend to Ryan and take him to pediatrics. I was most grateful for that. I need to go visit that kid later. I need to do a lot of things later. Maybe even drunk again. Glass shards were sticking out of his shoulder and back, but they weren't too deep. I was grateful for that, too. I grabbed a pair of tweezers and set out to helping him. I knew there were other people around that needed help, but my deep rooted respect for police officers overrode that. A few of the cuts were going to need stitches, but that wouldn't take long. I applied another alcohol swab to the cuts and listened to him breathe in a sharp intake of air. At least you're somewhat normal again. I hated that hollowed expression on people's faces. No one ever asked me what was wrong when I had that look on my face. It made me want to help poeple even more when I saw it. "Sorry," I whispered, picking up some Vicryl and a needle for the stitches. The Vicryl would dissolve in a few days and I didn't want him to have to worry about getting them removed, he already had enough on his mind.

"I'm so close to her," he breathed. "I'm so fucking close." He shook his head as I numbed a few places in his shoulder.

"You'll find her," I told him, as I started stitching up the small cuts. He scoffed.

"You sound so confident in me." Well, I could be mean? Would you like me to pull out bitchy Holly? I can do that for you. I'm just trying to help you, ass. Stupid men.

"You seem like a smart kid, Blake. You'll find her." He hung his head.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it." I'm serious. Don't. Every time I try to help you insane creatures, you all have some kind of issue.

All in all, about 50 people were hurt in the blast, each one suffering some different degree of injury. 10 people were killed on the scene. Each person injured was admitted and put in a room for observation, just to make sure they didn't turn into murdering half-breed insects. I changed in the locker room and met Liam outside in the hallway. It had been one hell of a day. "Feeling up for dinner?" he asked me as I walked up to him. Sure. I wasn't going the fuck home to cook. I was tired.

"Yes," I breathed. He smirked and turned to walk with me to the parking garage.

"Meet you at Bruce's?" I nodded and got into the car. Of course, we're heading to the mansion to eat.

The mansion looked different without a party happening in front of it. It seemed darker and more reserved. We parked in front of it, without a valet waiting on us hand and foot. Walking inside of it, I felt like I was walking into a palace mixed into a museum. The furniture and the paintings made me gape. Holy shit. This is how billionaires live. "Mr. Dorrance and Ms. Engel, dinner will be served in the dining room," Alfred spoke, walking out of a side door from the small atrium.

"Thank you, Alfred," Liam spoke with a nod. Alfred gave us a smile and a nod and disappeared into the doorway he walked out of.

The dining room was even more insane. The table was large made out of cherry wood. It could have sat at least 20 people. A servant pulled out a chair for me near the end of the table, just next to the head chair, that I supposed Liam was going to sit in. We sat down next to each other silently as another servant poured water into our glasses. "Tell me something I don't about you," he told me with a smirk. I raised an eyebrow at him. Hm? How about my general dislike for people or about how often I don't date? My favorite music? Yeah, music sounds way better.

"I really like music."

"What kind?" I shrugged.

"Any and all."

"Opera?"

"Yes, I do like opera." I have ovaries and a uterus. Pretty much makes me destined to like opera. He nodded with the same smirk.

"Me too."

"Where are Bruce and Selina?" I asked, thinking I already knew the answer to that question.

"They're out. They've been searching almost non-stop for this new villain." Bowls of soup were placed before us. He ate a spoonful of it and looked out of the window. "Was that Blake that I saw in the ER earlier?"

"Yes," I answered with a nod, taking a bite of my soup. It was so damn good.

"Was he alright?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Yes. I think he's a little shaken up, but he seemed alright. He said he was close to finding this woman that's been spraying people and that she dropped a bomb outside of the flower shop he was at." Liam shook his head, then clenched and unclenched his jaw.

"Why do people think it's alright to just take lives like that?" You tell me, Bane. I shook my head at myself. He's not Bane right now.

"Why do people do half of what they do?" I asked quietly.

"You're right. It's pretty unexplainable. I guess we'll never really know."

"I guess not," I agreed through a breath. We ate talking lightly, discussing different parts of our life, talking about anything and everything. I felt comfortable. He had that same welcoming feeling like Gordon and I loved it. It made it so easy to talk to him. After dinner, we sat in the living room just in front of the fire place, watching the fire.

"What did you do in high school?" he asked, curiously.

"Nothing, actually. I couldn't really do much."

"Well, that makes sense."

"I really like to read though. I read a lot. I read anything I could get my hands on."

"I was the same way." I smiled and looked over at him, leaning my head back against the couch. I was so tired and full. And for the first time, I actually felt kind of happy. I was actually talking with someone who understood about a bit about my history and wasn't treating me any differently because of it. He wanted to talk. No one ever really wanted to talk to me aside from Gordon. Perhaps my attitude didn't help much in that situation, but people just didn't understand. A smile formed on my face as I listened to him speak about the different books he read, what his favorites were, and what books he was interested in starting to read. He stopped talking and looked over at me. "What?" I shook my head. I am actually happy. And who would have thought I would say that an ex-super villain was the source of it. "Speak, now," he ordered, jokingly. I don't think that's wise. I shrugged.

"Just enjoying company," I answered. He smiled and looked down at my hand, then picked it up with his. The warmth again my skin just made me melt into the couch a little farther.

"As am I," he whispered squeezing my hand. I smiled wider. My heart fluttered for a second as he rubbed his thumb across my hand. Wow. I hadn't felt that in a long time. He smirked, met my eyes, and leaned back against the couch.

"I should be getting home soon," I yawned, covering my mouth with my free hand.

"You know I'm not going to let you leave after a yawn like that." I laughed softly and nodded.

"I have to get home."

"Well, you have two options." Oh, do I? You have yet to see me for what I really am, huh? I don't need constant monitoring or attention. I'm pretty well off on my own. "Alfred drives you home or you stay in one of the spare bedrooms here." I wasn't going to put Alfred out like that. That man was already ran ragged. I didn't much against servants who were willing, it wasn't like he was a slave, but he was old. That just made me feel bad. I yawned loudly again, I felt like my jaw was going to dislocate. Maybe I do need to stay.

"I'll stay, but only in a spare bedroom." He laughed.

"Alright." He stood and held onto my hand, pulling me up out of the couch. I rose to stand beside him and followed him up the stairs to a long hallway. He led me to a door and stopped outside of it. "I'm two doors down, close to the window," he told me, gesturing near the end of the hallway.

"Thank you," I muttered, sleepily. He smiled and dropped his head down.

"You're welcome," he whispered, holding both my hands in front of me. He released my hands and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in close. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and breathed his scent in. "I'll see you in the morning. Sleep well." I smiled, leaning my head against him.

"You too."

"Good night." He kissed the side of my head and gave me a small squeeze. Oh, please don't do that. Blush lit up my cheeks like wild fire.

"Good night, Liam," I sighed.